Category: Shaun

How to become a god in Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy 15 status report update:

Level: 53

Chapter: 5

Hours logged: 50

Enemies killed: Innumerable

Percentage better than Final Fantasy XIII: 1000

Maybe this is a common set of stats for people playing through the extremely enjoyable Final Fantasy XV (especially the part about being superior to XIII), but I feel like I’ve gleefully broken the game. My Noctis seems so delightfully OP that I thought it couldn’t hurt to share my trial and error experiences with my fellow man. Learn from my mistakes and emulate my triumphs to transform your growing prince into the god of death and power that he was meant to be.

After extremely positive reviews, and a drought of a good, single-player Final Fantasy game since 12, reports from Square Enix state that day one sales across boxed and digital versions for Final Fantasy XV have exceeded 5 million, making it the fastest selling title in series’ history.

After one subpar season followed by one plain bad season, I was about ready to give up Arrow. Coming from someone who has been a huge fan over the last five years, that’s saying a lot. But right when I’m on the precipice of peacing out for good, Arrow brings us this trailer in preparation for its premiere:

Where have all the good reviews gone?

When I first read IGN’s relatively harsh review of Ace Attorney 6: Spirit of Justice, my heart sank a little. As a game I have been looking forward to since it was announced, and as an avid series fan, I wanted the score to be higher. I don’t know–maybe in my narcissistic bubble I just want everyone to love the game as much as me.

When I went to Metacritic, however, my disappointment shifted to relief….and then something more akin to rage. Turns out that Spirit of Justice is sitting pretty at a high 82 rating, and IGN’s review of the game was the lowest out there.

I took some time to meditate on my rage. Really let it percolate. Because as a fan, I know how I am. When I recommend something to someone, and they hate it, my first emotion is intense, world-burning hatred. But when I let it subside, I fall back down to the rationale human emotion of it’s their opinion, and they’re perfectly entitled to that, and not everything is for everyone.

So I gave it some time, and the anger did sort of melt away. But what was left was confusion. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had some legitimate gripes with the review, and by extension, reviews as a whole.

I know the joke for years is that IGN has been horrible at….well, it would be faster to list what they do well. I think a third of that is troll fodder, another third is the expectations that come with being one of the largest entertainment websites out there, and the final third is IGN could handle a lot of their content better. My beef isn’t elusively with IGN; with that said, they really flubbed this review. Like “Too much water” 2.0.

It’s belated, sure, but I officially dove in to play and review Pokemon Go…and I officially I don’t get it. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

Look, with something as huge as Pokemon Go has been, I cant help but recoil against the hype machine a little. I’ll admit that. It’s my human nature. But with what is now a cultural phenomenon, I was expecting more depth. More strategy. More heart. More fun. Just…more.

Don’t get me wrong – the first couple hours of Pokemon Go is stellar and fresh. The experience of walking around and interacting with Pokemon in your environment is the dream of millions of people who grew up on these games. Throwing Pokeballs, evolving your creatures, and steadily getting stronger is a pure treat, as was evidenced by how every person on the planet downloaded this game. You really begin realizing what tremendous potential something like this has.

Unfortunately, that’s the thing about potential–it exists as a what if that may or may not ever be realized. Just ask Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Turns out that as a brief experience, Pokemon Go is like cracking open that elusive treasure chest for the first time. And as a game, Pokemon Go is discovering the chest contains only pieces hot garbage–that is to say, it’s a shallow, aimless, and ultimately pointless exercise in redundancy.

Originality is dead

“Eh…it was predictable.”

I can’t tell you how many times i’ve seen this phrase accompany a review of a film, television show, book, or any other medium of entertainment. Along with it being sort of a humble brag in many cases (this individual was soooo insightful that they saw the twist coming from half a mile away and around six corners, too), it’s also one of the worst, most basic, most surface, and ironically least insightful comments someone can make about a movie. And it’s everywhere.

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Objection Network

Objection Network is a pop culture extravaganza with a weekly podcast every Thursday at noon, daily Let's Play videos, and a bevy of blog posts for your enjoyment.

The current crew includes Chris and Shaun, who have been there since the beginning, and Michelle, who joined in 2014. We also have other contributors like Michaela who chip in from time to time.

We cover everything from video games, anime and movies to music, books and idiots in the news. And yes, everybody here loves Phoenix Wright, thank you for asking.

This whole thing was started as At the Buzzer in February 2011, the brainchild of three men desperate for attention. It’s slightly related to an old Flagstaff radio show from 2008, kinda like how Frasier was slightly related to Cheers. In other words, we're all getting old and it's a little depressing.

The gang talks about Kingdom Hearts in anticipation of the third game's long-overdue release, then rolls back the clock with an old friend in the This But segment. Also, Chris has a bone to pick with a name, Michelle says she likes to watch, and Shaun seeks an eternal rival for his life.

The gang takes their annual look at the best in pop culture of the previous year, including video games and movies (with TV and music still to come). Also, Chris puts Michelle in a box, Dave gets less credit than he deserves, Michelle does what is expected, and Shaun keeps everyone guessing.

The gang takes their annual look at the best in pop culture of the previous year, including video games and movies (with TV and music still to come). Also, Chris buries an entire franchise, Dave gets in early on a trend, Michelle pokes the bear, and Shaun does not let fear enter his dojo.